The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of Amaranthus cruentus flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, catechin, hesperetin, naringenin, hesperidin, and naringin), cinnamic acid derivatives (p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid), and benzoic acids (vanillic acid and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid) as antioxidants, antidiabetic, and antihypertensive agents. An analytical method for simultaneous quantification of flavonoids, cinnamic acid derivatives, and benzoic acids for metabolomic analysis of leaves and inflorescences from A. cruentus was developed with HPLC-UV-DAD. Evaluation of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, precision, and recovery was used to validate the analytical method developed. Maximum total flavonoids contents (5.2 mg/g of lyophilized material) and cinnamic acid derivatives contents (0.6 mg/g of lyophilized material) were found in leaves. Using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, the maximum total betacyanin contents (74.4 mg/g of lyophilized material) and betaxanthin contents (31 mg/g of lyophilized material) were found in inflorescences. The leaf extract showed the highest activity in removing DPPH radicals. In vitro antidiabetic activity of extracts was performed with pancreatic α-glucosidase and intestinal α-amylase, and compared to acarbose. Both extracts exhibited a reduction in enzyme activity from 57 to 74%. Furthermore, the in vivo tests on normoglycemic murine models showed improved glucose homeostasis after sucrose load, which was significantly different from the control. In vitro antihypertensive activity of extracts was performed with angiotensin-converting enzyme and contrasted to captopril; both extracts exhibited a reduction of enzyme activity from 53 to 58%. The leaf extract induced a 45% relaxation in an ex vivo aorta model. In the molecular docking analysis, isoamaranthin and isogomphrenin-I showed predictive binding affinity for α-glucosidases (human maltase-glucoamylase and human sucrase-isomaltase), while catechin displayed binding affinity for human angiotensin-converting enzyme. The data from this study highlights the potential of A. cruentus as a functional food.

Betalains are natural pigments responsible for the colour of flowers, bracts, stems, and leaves of genus Amaranthus, and they are bioactive compounds. Due to their great chemical diversity, the determination and confident identification of betalains are still challenges and of great interest as they are natural colourants for health benefit. By high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS), the catalog of betalains in red amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus L.) was defined. In total, 30 betacyanins and 13 betaxanthins were found. Mass measurements for the parent ion and for its fragments with errors of less than 5 parts per million (ppm) achieved the recommended criteria for identification of compounds. This work defines the main betalains in red amaranth (A. cruentus) and valorizes the leaves and inflorescence of red amaranth as betalain pigments sources. Resumen. Las betalaínas son pigmentos naturales responsables del color en las flores, brácteas, tallos y hojas del género Amaranthus y también son compuestos bioactivos. Debido a su amplia diversidad química, la identificación y determinación confiable de betalaínas siguen siendo desafíos y son de gran interés puesto que son colorantes naturales beneficiosos para la salud. Por medio de cromatografía de líquidos de alta eficiencia acoplada a espectrometría de masas en tándem se definió el catálogo de betalaínas en “amaranto rojo” (Amaranthus cruentus L.). En total se encontraron 30 betacianinas y 13 betaxantinas. Las mediciones de las masas del ion molecular y sus fragmentos con errores menores a 5 partes por millón (ppm) garantizaron los criterios recomendados para la identificación de compuestos. Este trabajo define las principales betalaínas del amaranto rojo (A. cruentus) y valora las hojas e inflorescencias del amaranto rojo como fuente de pigmentos betalaínicos.

La chía es un grano apreciado por su gran contenido de ácidos grasos, entre ellos el omega 3 útil para contrarrestar los triglicéridos, de igual manera se le relaciona con la pérdida de peso en el ser humano, en tiempos prehispánicos se requería como pago de tributo a los pueblos conquistadores, sus semillas se usaban como revitalizante para los combatientes que partían a la guerra, y para las mujeres que se preparaban para el parto, actualmente su uso es común en la preparación de agua fresca, en preparación de pintura (aceite) y como enriquecedor de productos panificados. Su producción se perdió a raíz de la conquista ya que los españoles trajeron nuevos cultivos, los cuales fueron desplazando al de la chía, condenándolo a sembrase solo en zonas muy apartadas. Actualmente el cultivo de chía ha tenido un repunte gracias a sus propiedades, las cuales han permitido ampliar su consumo. Siendo México lugar de origen, se cuenta con las condiciones propicias para el desarrollo del cultivo solo hay que buscar los mejores lugares y las practicas apropiadas para tener éxito en el desarrollo del cultivo. Teniendo en cuenta lo antes expuesto se realizó una revisión bibliográfica, siendo el objetivo del presente trabajo dar a conocer las tendencias futuras y actuales de la chía.

Background: Amaranthaceae is a large family of angiosperms consisting of the former Amaranthaceae sensu stricto and the former Chenopodiaceae, distributed from the tropics to more temperate regions. Amaranths were independently domesticated in Asia and America. For seed production, three native American species, referred to as grain amaranths, resulted from human artificial selection and cultivation over thousands of years: Amaranthus caudatus, A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus. Scope: This review attempts to provide a survey of the research in amaranths since Sauer (1918–2008). In addition, we try to clarify confusion in the literature by posing the following questions. (1) Were Sauer’s proposals corroborated by recent research? (2) Is there consensus on an ancestor of the grain amaranths? (3) What is the domestication syndrome of grain amaranths? (4) Is there consensus on the domestication of grain amaranths? Conclusions: Sauer’s hypothesis that the three grain amaranths originated from a single ancestor, and that artificial selection combined with hybridization with wild species resulted in the three grain amaranths, is corroborated by most recent authors. There is consensus that the three grain amaranths originated from Amaranthus hybridus. However, it appears that A. hybridus is polyphyletic. Only seed colour is predominantly present in the literature as a character of the grain amaranths domestication syndrome. There is no consensus on the degree of domestication of the grain amaranths. In the literature, there is considerable confusion regarding terminology, the way dates are displayed, concepts and geographical locations. However, we can conclude that there is consensus about the South American Andes and large parts of Mexico as geographical origins of domestication. Without doubt, the lack of good phylogenetic hypotheses for Amaranthus also blurs each attempt to clarify the evolution of the cultivated amaranths from their wild ancestors.

La Salvia hispanica L. (chía) es una planta herbácea originaria de México, pertenece a la familia Lamiaceae. El cultivo fue prohibido y sustituido por otros cereales durante la conquista. Por el contenido nutricional y propiedades nutraceúticas que posee, se ha reintroducido y actualmente se considera un alimento potencial altamente nutritivo. La superficie sembrada se incremente anualmente, los materiales cultivados son genotipos locales o introducidos, debido que son escasas las variedades mejoradas. Con el objetivo de identificar accesiones sobresalientes, orientadas a una mayor eficiencia del cultivo, durante el ciclo agrícola primavera-verano 2017, se caracterizaron agronómicamente 32 accesiones de S. hispanica, en siete ambientes, bajo un diseño de bloques completos al azar con tres repeticiones. Se evaluaron las variables: altura de planta, diámetro de tallo, peso de planta, número de espigas, peso de grano por planta y rendimiento por hectárea. Las accesiones 1, 2, 12 y 22 presentaron mayor rendimiento de semilla por hectárea, altura de planta, número de espigas florales, frutos por espiga y peso seco de planta. El promedio de producción de semilla fue de 924 kg ha-1. El mejor ambiente para producción de chía fue Rancho San Lorenzo, Metepec. El análisis clúster agrupo a las accesiones en cinco conglomerados, agrupándolos por su rendimiento y variables afines.

Background and aims – Amaranthus cruentus , native to Mexico and Guatemala, has significant cultural, medicinal, and ornamental uses and growing agricultural relevance. However, little research has focused on its origin and domestication. To determine its domestication syndrome, we identified a set of domestication-linked traits in cultivated A. cruentus and compared them with its wild ancestor A. hybridus and with A. cruentus accessions from different regions. We assessed whether the domestication syndrome enables us (1) to differentiate between the wild and cultivated species and (2) to determine the level of domestication in populations of A. cruentus from different putative centres of domestication. Material and methods – Populations of A. cruentus and A. hybridus were sampled from Mexico and Guatemala. Ten morphological traits related to vegetative stage, anthesis, and seed maturation were evaluated to identify patterns linked to domestication. PERMANOVA was used to analyse differences in traits between cultivated and wild populations. Key results – Basal stem size, plant height, inflorescence length, and seed yield (total mass) differed significantly between A. cruentus and A. hybridus . Amaranthus cruentus had a broader range of seed and inflorescence colours. The Mexican accessions had taller plants, longer inflorescences, and greater seed yield than the Guatemalan. Conclusion – The selected set of characters unambiguously distinguishes the wild A. hybridus from the cultivated A. cruentus , enables differentiation of domestication levels, suggesting that Mexican accessions are more domesticated than the Guatemalan.